


In a Day's Work

by audumbs



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Missing Scene, there will be a love triangle and im so sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:13:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22764541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/audumbs/pseuds/audumbs
Summary: "You know, Inquisitor, when I said I trust your leadership and would follow you everywhere, I have to admit, I did not think it would be like this."A series of tiny stories filling in the down time during Inquisition. Will update the tags as is relevant.
Relationships: Blackwall/Female Inquisitor, Blackwall/Female Lavellan/Solas (Dragon Age), Female Lavellan/Solas
Kudos: 1





	1. Did I ever tell you the time the Inquisitor tried to climb a very big rock?

"They're gonna say 'the Inquisitor could defeat anything in her way,'" Varric said with his arms crossed, watching her fall for the sixteenth time, her head scratching against the rocky mountainside on her way down, "'except hills.'"

"Technically rocks," Solas decided to say, leaning against the mountainside watching the august rams run across the green landscape, seemingly from nowhere.

The Inquisitor wiped her hands down against her armor, almost as if to flatten out the material. 

"Cassandra told me they're going to say I'm funny."

"They can say more than one thing." Varric reminded her.

As this happens, Cassandra strides in from around the rocks to where they're chatting. She had taken a break from pacing to scout the area. "There's a path up ahead." She rested her hands on the hilt of her blade while she watches the Herald of Andraste herself almost get a foothold on this rock formation only to fall back down. Maybe Andraste didn't know her that well.

"That would be faster, I imagine, but we're having such a great time out here."

"Inquisitor, we are not here for a great time."

"Speak for yourself." Varric adds, if he's being honest or trying to poke at Cassandra's raw spots is anyone's guess, but the Inquisitor chooses to believe he's having a good time. Same with Solas, but for different reasons.

The Inquisitor so hated giving up, especially these fanciful pursuits. They remind her she's young still. Plus the work has been grueling and she likes giving everyone these small breaks, occupying them with something that isn't life or death.

Solas decided, then, he has an opinion, "There's a camp not far from here, maybe we should go and rest. The Inquisitor looks a little... tired." The dirt and blood covering her face and hands seem much better when they are painted as tired and not gross. It's the simple things, y'know?

The camp was comfortable as far as camps go, and the Inquisitor has seen a lot recently-- actually her whole life, but these were built different from place to place which was as exciting as flaps of fabric can get. Now in her tent to rest before continuing on, she looked at the sandpaper skin covering her palms, raw and sensitive to even the the movement of her own breath or the flexing of her thumb. It was fun, it was worth it, she reminded herself, torn between wrapping it and just accepting her fate. That was when she heard Solas beckon from beyond the entrance of her tent. A formality, at least Revasanan hoped, before he entered, ducking down to fit into the space and squatting to meet her cross-legged height. When he's low like this she can see he holds something in his hand, a small circular thing she couldn't quite make out.

"For you," he said, reaching out to touch her hand but stopping just short of contact. "May I?" He asked, as if the answer was anything but yes. She nodded. He turned her hands palm up and paused, just for a moment, fingers lingering just above the shredded skin. He took the object he had been holding and scooped out a yellow blob of cream and began to soothe it into her skin.  
She winced at the sudden sting, the cold against the heat that accumulated at the surface, the intrusion into her skin was painful for a moment but better the next. "I apologize if I was too rough.'' She looked up at him, her hair down and framing her face in blonde waves, and she could tell something was different and she couldn't tell what it was. Maybe they were tired. Maybe it was because he had never seen her with her hair down or in the light linen she wore for sleep. Neither of them said anything. Solas held on closely to the container as he used his hands to roll up from his knees, ached from the long days spent in the Emerald Graves. "I do not wish to overstay my welcome, Inquisitor. Sleep well."

And with that he was gone. Her mind was still slow and occupied by the light stinging of her healing skin. Solas had moved quickly, she hadn't the chance to say anything back.


	2. That Time We Went to The Forbidden Oasis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang goes to the Forbidden Oasis with five shards in hand.

The Inquisitor counted one two three four five shards in her hand. She looked up at the door and counted the one two three four five six empty shard-shaped holes on the door handle. She looked back at her hands.

"I don't think we have enough, guys." The Inquisitor said, head still held low, hoping that she somehow miscounted the measly number.

Blackwall came up from her side and peered over. "How many do we need?

"Six."

Blackwall crossed his arms and placed his hand under his chin, really just grabbing the misshapen beard around his face. "Yeah, that doesn’t appear to be enough." Revasanan looked up at her companion and then craned her neck to find where Cole had disappeared to. She was sure the boy would make an appearance any moment to give his go at counting. But in the meantime, her eyes caught Dorian staring at what she imagined was an important inscription carved into the reflective metal and not his reflection  _ in _ it, which was harder to believe as he fixed his mustache. "Dorian, what do you think?"

"I think you ought to find more shards. Preferably five days ago before you asked me to come with you for this blasted thing."

"If we break one of the shards into a smaller piece we would have six." Cole was suddenly in the group as if he had been there the whole time and they were all too oblivious to notice. The inquisitor felt bad when this happened, but tried not to feel it too much-- wouldn't want Cole to bear it as well.

"Yeah, maybe that could work." Blackwall agreed, now peering into the holes.

The Inquisitor thought for a moment. Was she the fool or were they? Dorian had decided for her.

"You know nothing about magic and it shows! I thought Grey Wardens were more attuned to this sort of thing." The group had clustered in a crescent around the door and her hand. They stood there like the trees in the oasis-- hot and unable to move.

Revasanan shifted her mouth to the side, face puckered now to her right as she began coming to conclusions. She peered around the oasis for a moment and tried to remember the whereabouts of the shards she thought she had seen with the ocularum earlier. It had to be close, right? The entire area was probably, what, like one square mile? "We just need one more shard and then we're good to go. We can do it. I think there was one up there."

"You know, Inquisitor, when I said I trust your leadership and would follow you everywhere, I have to admit, I did not think it would be like this." Blackwall said to the elf who had just tripped over his discarded armor. He turned his face up from the ground to look at her, still entirely slouched over sifting through the dirt.

"I have to admit I didn't think I would ever lead you here." He wiped his forearm against his forehead as he laughed. She was glad to see someone happy in this heat. He was dirtied from searching through the thin sands for a shard upwards of an hour now. She was fairing no better, her hair looking like she had let it dry after a swim and her under-armor clothes needing desperately to be washed and dried. Everything was fine, the hottest part of the day would be over within only four hours and then they might know peace again. Or instead maybe they will actually find one singular shard in all of the oasis and get to step into the magical sanctuary that is not in direct sunlight. "How's the searching going?"

Blackwall moved from being on his hands and knees to sitting down completely. He took a deep breath and let it out slow, squinting his eyes as he scanned the area he had been searching. "Not good, I have to say."

"Not for me either." She sat down next to him. They both tried to enjoy the scenery, all sand and waterfall and green, broken down but leaving the exciting feeling of mystery and discovery. It was nice sitting there, the two of them. Not that it was un-nice with Dorian and Cole but this was calming. The Inquisitor did not get much time for quiet with others. Yes they were supposed to be finding this shard but it was almost definitely a lost cause, or at least lost enough to warrant a real break. Time to center and strategize, which of course is the line if it comes up while the advisors are reading reports, but none of that strategizing actually got done.

"You've seen a lot of thedas now, haven't you?" Blackwall asked leaning in only slightly closer, an indication of him cooling down and likely nothing else, but it was closer than the Inquisitor liked knowing how smelly she must be at the current moment. "Where do you see yourself after all this passes?"

The truth was she hadn't given it much thought. She spent so much of the last months going where she needed to go, doing what had to be done. She was always a creature of responsibility and she imagined that responsibility would return to her clan after this. But at the same time, she has people she cares about right here. What will she do when they can no longer follow?

"Maybe go back home. Maybe the Inquisition will last even after Corypheus. Who knows." He nodded. "What about you?"

"Well--"

"INQUISITOR! INQUUIIISITOR!" The Inquisitor rose and looked down to see where Dorian's voice was coming from. She finally spotted him and Cole standing from the side of the tree, both of them dripping with water from the river in their underclothes. Either that or dripping in obscene amounts of sweat-- and in this weather it was a fair possibility. She called back.

"DID YOU FIND ONE?"

"NO. I JUST FIGURED NOW'S A GOOD TIME FOR A CHAT." The Inquisitor took that for a yes and gathered her belongings, hesitant to put them on after feeling any sort of air on her skin. She and Blackwall made their way down to where the two boys were now sitting, which was chest high in the water.

"Inquisitor, join us, please." Dorian said motioning to the spot to his left. She was tempted and had she not donned her armor once more she would have probably taken him up on it. "I was just teaching Cole how to relax. While doing that the boy found a shard. Can you believe it? Never stops working, this one." He placed his hand on the crown of Cole's hat, doing what could only be described as a restricted hair tousle. 

“I helped.” Cole said with a smile. Dorian shook him excitedly. It was hard not to smile along when it was like this.

"Let's crack this temple open." Blackwall said, putting his hands together. Everyone had to agree. Revasanan grabbed the shard from them and started for the temple, leaving them to put the rest of their clothes on. Blackwall followed. "Too bad Solas isn't here to see this, it's just like his name. Solas-an. Solasan." He leaned against the side of the door.

"It means a place of pride." She hunched over the door and peered into the shard holes, "Do you think I should wait for Dorian and Cole before putting the shards in? What if it blows up or does something else cool? I should right." She thought aloud. Blackwall nodded.

"Seems fair." His head was now touching the wall and his mind looked far. "Doesn't he like all these ruins?"

"Dorian?"

"Solas."

"Oh, well yes, but I promised Dorian a vacation. And we don't need three mages. I much prefer to have a strongman on board." Blackwall smiled a little, lips turning slightly upward like the small curve from the indent of your palm laid flat. She had started to toss the shards in the air and catch them back in her hand.

"Inquisitor." Dorian said from behind her, hands on his hips, a mocking tone of disappointment. She turned her head back. "Such reckless behavior! And after all the blood, sweat, and tears Cole shed to find you that shard."

She shrugged. "I'm a bastard, what can I say. You ready?" Dorian and Cole nodded as Revasanan placed each shard into a slot. The door glowed and twisted itself open. Sick, they surely all thought to themselves as they watched this happen. They shuffled in.

"It's dark in here." Cole announced to the group. the Inquisitor was not sure if it was an observation or had some sort of opinion involved.

"The old elves didn't have a sense for interior design." The Inquisitor said, squinting through the ruins. "I think there's a door up ahead."

They all shakily moved through the darkness and found the door she spoke of. The Inquisitor lifted her hand and pulled on the door. It did not budge. it did not budge so hard that her hand slipped and she stumbled back. Dorian caught her with a hand on her back. She pushed. The door was content on standing still. I hope no one thinks this is embarrassing, she thought.

This is embarrassing, Dorian and Blackwall thought.

She investigated further and she noticed seven little carved out holes in the door, barely shard shaped.

The Inquisitor began to walk out of the temple.

"I think this was enough of the temple, don't you guys think?"

"Do we need more shards?" Cole asked.

And no one said anything as they made their way out of the Forbidden Oasis.


End file.
